The Stage In Life Of Glasses And Braces

Long story short, I got glasses when I hit my teens, braces when I was 15, then got them taken off after a month because I couldn’t play my flute well enough for my final exams to get into uni. When I was 19 I finally saved up and got braces. It was like a breath of fresh air. You know that feeling of a physical aspect of yourself that you’re most self conscious of. It feels like it can sometimes stop you from doing what you want. For me, it happened when I would cover my mouth when I laughed or hesitate from smiling with my teeth. When photos were taken, I didn’t want to smile and see my teeth, even though I love to smile. Most people won’t notice our perceived imperfections and flaws. We tend to magnify those aspects of ourselves.

When I started my braces journey one year ago, I noticed how I spent far more time on my oral hygiene, and how much more confident I am smiling and laughing with braces. When you know they’re getting straighter day by day, it doesn’t really matter, and you forget that they’re there. Except when you’re cleaning out the pieces of fruit skin and pieces of nuts. Although, it is advisable to skip the nuts if you risk breaking any brackets, otherwise it is doable. As someone who wears glasses from time to time, I found that the first 2 weeks of braces life, I was extremely conscious of them. Now, I fully embrace them, and can’t remember what my teeth feel like against my lips.

It’s never too late to get braces. There are a variety of options and it’s becoming more common for adults to get braces. The only bothersome parts I find are definitely cleaning and getting food stuck between the brackets. However, knowing the end result makes it all worth it. Plus, it makes you have a good habit of taking better care of your teeth. I think there’s a stereotype that braces and glasses look nerdy and unattractive, but really it makes me feel younger. It’s always good to remember the function of glasses and braces. They’re there to help you see the world and they’re there to straighten your teeth. We tend to care more of how we might look than other people do.

When I considered Invisalign, I decided on traditional metal braces, because they would be more effective and the results are more clear cut. Whereas Invisalign tends to be better for mild cases. I had an overbite, protrusion and over crowding that would of moved more smoothly in place with metal braces. It’s better to spend your money and invest your teeth and your time on an option that you know is going to work the best for you. The wonderful thing is that I smile far more with braces, and feel more happy in this stage of my life. The stage in life where you wear glasses and teeth is always a time you’ll look back on, and realise that to feel confident and happy in your skin comes down to yourself.

Post navigation

10 thoughts on “The Stage In Life Of Glasses And Braces”

As someone who wears glasses full-time and wore braces in middle school, I appreciate this post. Wearing glasses was my second biggest insecurity during middle and high school (after acne); I have myopia and astigmatism so I can’t see the blackboard well unless I’m wearing glasses, and for a long time I refused to wear them even if I couldn’t see people’s faces clearly. It was a horrible time, but it did make me appreciate my precious eyes. They are not something to be overlooked.
As with braces, I got off easy. I wore them for less than two years in middle school, and never had to wear them again. I’m just now realizing how necessary and lucky I was, because without braces, I would have been subjected to all kinds of complications (caries, for instance), that could have been avoided with braces. And I didn’t find the whole process so horrible either. I actually grew used to my braces, and I loved changing the plastic thingies depending on the month (Valentine’s, Halloween, Christmas) hahaha.

Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I have astigmatism too! I can relate to that as well, when my eyesight was just starting to become blurry, I didn’t really try wearing my glasses and it was difficult to see faces clearly. I felt like I didn’t want to wear them, because I felt they didn’t look nice on my face or that it was something in the way when I talked to people. But, I think over time you realise that they’re there at the end of the day to let us see the world! I’m glad you got braces done smoothly and in a short period of time!

I’ve always had acne, one of my biggest insecurities. I would never go to the beach with my friends or sleepover at their house because I didn’t want them to see me without makeup. Now I’m 18 and I’m taking accutane. I’m so much happier right now. I’m not promoting this medicine or anything because I know it’s pretty powerful, but I just want to say that everything has it’s cure, and we should love every aspect of our face and body, because at the end of the day no one is going to love us as much as we do

Thanks for sharing that with me, it’s such an important reminder that everyone has something they’re insecure about, but at the end of the day we’re the ones taking care of ourselves and in control of whether we want to be happy or not.

I absolutely love my braces I had them put on last year. I’m 17 so I was lucky to get them free and didn’t have to pay. But I really do love them I’ve wanted braces for so long that I was relieved when I finally got accepted.